At eight o’clock in the evening, the car stopped steadily in front of Linshi No. 1 High School’s entrance.

Xie Ci glanced at Xu You from the rearview mirror.

Under the soft, pale yellow light, she had her eyes closed, her head tilted to the side against the seat, her face weary.

She seemed to have fallen asleep.

He turned off the engine. With the noise of the motor gone, it was so quiet that only her faint breathing could be heard.

Xie Ci’s fingertips unconsciously tapped the steering wheel. He turned his head, looking her over discreetly.

A pale, delicate little face.

The black jacket draped casually over her was still too large for her thin, slender body. The hollow of her collarbone was exposed, a stretch of snow-white skin.

The night was terribly quiet.

The more he looked, the more thirsty he felt. Slowly, his body leaned over without making a sound.

Little by little, getting closer and closer to her.

Xu You’s breathing was very faint, her chest rising and falling slowly.

His lips touched a small patch of skin on her neck.

Xie Ci felt he was probably a bit perverted. He always liked smelling that scent on her, enjoying the feeling of every breath in and out being surrounded by the soft, cool hint of fragrance from her body.

Immersed in it, he couldn’t help but nuzzle with his cheek and extend the tip of his tongue to lick lightly.

Wanting to know what this taste was.

He felt a heat rising below. His entire being was enveloped by an unknown desire and pleasure, surging up from his stomach, a hunger that reached straight to his spine.

So hungry.

Suddenly startling awake, Xu You shuddered. She opened her eyes, took a moment to react, not knowing where she was.

The person in the driver’s seat was nowhere to be seen, and the car engine was off.

Xu You rubbed her eyes, sat up, unbuckled her seatbelt, and got out of the car.

As soon as she looked up, she saw Xie Ci with his back to her, leaning against the car hood, head down smoking a cigarette.

He knew she had gotten out of the car, but didn’t turn around.

Xu You closed the car door and said to his back: “Xie Ci, I’m leaving.”

At the distant edge of the sky, the starlight was dim. Her figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.

Xie Ci withdrew his gaze and exhaled a puff of smoke.

The white smoke dissipated in the night breeze.

—

After dinner in the evening, Li Jieyi called together a group of people and got a hotel room to play cards.

By the time Xie Ci arrived, it was almost ten o’clock.

In the room, the sound of mahjong tiles clashing together rattled noisily, with vague shouts coming through.

As he pushed open the door and entered, he heard Song Yifan’s wail.

“Holy crap, why am I the dealer again?”

A round had just ended. Li Jieyi was happily collecting money when he looked up and saw Xie Ci coming over. He said “Yo” with amusement: “Ah Ci, what are you doing carrying a stuffed animal?”

Song Yifan turned around at the sound, his eyes widening. “Damn, Xie Ci, where’d you get that bear?”

“Oh my, it’s so cute.” Chen Jingyi excitedly ran to his side, bent down, and touched the big yellow bear’s ears with her hand.

She played with it fondly, then lifted her head with curved eyes, her tone somewhat coquettish: “Ah Ci, can you give it to me?”

Xie Ci didn’t answer, only said indifferently to Song Yifan: “Get up, let me play.”

“Sure, sure, sure. You’ve got money, you play.” Song Yifan said as he moved aside.

At the card table was also a girl from Class 4 who had a good relationship with Chen Jingyi.

Xie Ci sat down, placed the bear sideways across his lap, and started shuffling the tiles.

Who knows if girls are born with a natural love for stuffed animals. Sitting across from Xie Ci, she propped her chin on her hand and said with a smile: “Xie Ci, where did you buy this bear? It’s so cute.”

“Didn’t buy it.”

“Huh?”

Xie Ci’s gaze lowered to look at the tiles in his hand. He said casually: “My wife gave it to me.”

Chen Jingyi stopped what she was doing, slightly stunned.

Li Jieyi reacted quickly though, catching the key point: “You changed again already?”

“Not that fast, right?”

Song Yifan pulled over a stool to sit beside them, cracking sunflower seeds and casting a suspicious glance at Xie Ci.

He played a tile, knocking it on the table with a crisp sound.

“What’s it to you guys?”

“Well, listen to you talk.” Li Jieyi picked up the cigarette pack and shook out one. Just as he put it in his mouth and pressed the lighter, he heard Xie Ci speak.

“Don’t smoke here.”

Li Jieyi’s movement paused, his eyes sliding over: “So now my smoking bothers you too?”

Xie Ci made a sound of acknowledgment and said: “Don’t make my bear stink.”

At these words, everyone at the card table: ……….

Li Jieyi nearly spat.

“For this damn bear, you’ve become ridiculously effeminate, Xie Ci.”

—

School days passed by plainly and simply. In the blink of an eye, it was mid-November.

After the second period in the morning, before the break-time run, the homeroom teacher came into the classroom with a stack of papers.

“Return to your seats. I’ll finish speaking quickly, then you can assemble for the run.”

Xu You was sitting in the first row. She stopped her pen and closed her book to look toward the podium.

Xu Huiru roughly divided the stack of papers into several portions and tossed them onto the desks of the first-row students in each column, having them distribute them one by one.

Xu You picked up the paper on her desk and glanced down at it.

Class division preference form.

She got up and distributed the papers one by one.

Xu Huiru was still speaking from the podium: “Take this form home now, discuss with your parents at noon whether to study humanities or sciences, and hand it to me tomorrow morning. The class monitor will collect them and put them in my office. Also, as I told you before, the school administration has issued a regulation—starting today, we’ll begin having evening self-study until eight o’clock. Those with special circumstances should come ask me for leave individually.”

This announcement caused an uproar in the classroom.

When Xu You had distributed forms to the back of Group 2, someone shouted something, and that cluster of boys lounging together suddenly started loudly jeering with suggestive laughter.

Not understanding what was happening, she looked up.

Her gaze happened to collide with someone’s.

Xie Ci also had a faint smile on his face, chewing gum, one hand resting on the desk twirling a pen, leaning back in his chair looking up at her.

He had gotten a haircut at some point—the hair on both sides was shaved very short, black tousled hair hanging over his forehead.

Xu You gave him an imperceptible nod as a greeting, then withdrew her gaze and continued distributing materials with her head down.

By the time she reached the back, she had run out of forms with two rows remaining.

“Wait, I don’t have one.” Xie Ci deliberately called out to her, his face showing a playful, joking smile.

Xu You nodded and said to him: “You guys go to the podium and ask the teacher for them.”

After speaking, she turned and walked away.

Xu Xiaocheng snorted with laughter, leaned over, and mocked Xie Ci: “Why do I feel like she’s pretty cold toward you?”

“This shouldn’t be happening, my dear Ci. How did you miss your shot?” Xu Xiaocheng added with a sleazy laugh.

Those in their group all knew that Xie Ci seemed to have some interest in that new top-student transfer student in their class. It’s just that after all this time, she still seemed indifferent to him.

He’d been hit where it hurt.

Xie Ci looked up, too lazy to respond, and directly kicked him.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t take your anger out on me.” Xu Xiaocheng patted his pants and leaned over to put his arm around Xie Ci’s neck. “I’m saying you don’t have as much experience chasing girls as I do. Want me to teach you a few moves, buddy?”

Xie Ci removed his arm from his neck and twisted it hard, saying irritably: “Get lost and play somewhere else. Don’t bother your Brother Ci.”

As the two scuffled with each other, Song Yifan’s voice suddenly came from behind: “Ah Ci has been really irritable lately. I’m guessing it’s because of sexual frustration.”

Xie Ci threw a book at his face and cursed: “You get lost too.”

—

During the break-time run, the second-year students ran three laps around the teaching building. First, each class in the grade lined up in formation, then when the music started, they ran following the cadence in the music.

Class 9 of the second year was always the target of criticism from the grade director.

Every time their formation was dragging and messy, and the boys liked to goof around, horsing about with each other.

This time was no different. They had just finished one lap when the grade director stood on the second floor with hands on hips, shouting into a microphone: “That group from Class 9, you better run properly! If you don’t run well, you’ll run an extra lap!”

Xu You wiped the sweat from her forehead.

She had never been good at sports since childhood. Running and such were not her strong suits. Every time the running exercise required two laps, it was already enough to exhaust her, and now there was an extra lap.

Xu You panted slightly. Noticing her shoelaces had come a bit loose, she slowed down slightly, preparing to step out of formation to tie them, when a group of boys rushed past her, forcibly separating her from the girls’ line.

Xu You stood stunned, looking up at those tall boys blocking her path.

“What are you doing?” She spoke up.

“Acting on someone’s behalf.” The boy in front laughed while running, not turning his head.

There were three rows of boys. Xu You’s position now was sandwiched between the first and second rows.

Speechless, she prepared to cut across the formation when suddenly an arm reached out and grabbed her.

“Why are you running in front of me, trying to attract my attention?” Xie Ci’s impudent voice rang out.

Xu You was basically being dragged along by him. She wanted to break free but couldn’t. Getting a bit angry, she frowned and swatted his arm. “Don’t pull me, let go!”

Xie Ci clicked his tongue, casually glancing at her. “Stop touching me all the time.”

The people around kept their eyes on their noses, noses on their mouths, mouths watching their hearts, not daring to witness the boss “flirting.”

Xu You reached out to pinch him, twisting up a piece of flesh. “Are you letting go or not? If you don’t, I’m going to get angry.”

She wasn’t afraid of Xie Ci now; it was just that sometimes he annoyed her with his shameless persistence.

Xie Ci lowered his eyes to look at her, saying quietly: “Your temper’s really grown lately.”

After finishing the run, everyone dispersed on the spot.

Xu You took out her campus card from her pocket, went to the store to buy a bottle of water, and came out. She unscrewed the cap and walked toward the classroom. Just after taking two sips of water, someone followed beside her.

Xie Ci had his jacket slung over his shoulder, his smile a bit wild. “What a coincidence.”

Around them was also a surging crowd, students packed densely together.

The distance between them was squeezed closer.

It seemed that since that day they went out to play, their relationship had become slightly better, though Xu You still didn’t really talk to him much in class. However, the two weren’t quite like friends—it was hard to say exactly what they were.

Xu You glanced at him. “Why are you so idle all day long?”

“Either sleeping or playing.” She added.

Xie Ci thought for a moment, tilted his head slightly, and replied in a very good mood: “Can’t tell that you pay so much attention to me.”

“…….”

Knowing full well that he was just being frivolous and liked to tease her, Xu You still couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

They walked silently, one tall and one short.

Xie Ci suddenly snatched the water bottle from her hand, unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back and took a sip, his lips touching the bottle opening.

Xu You ignored him and walked on silently by herself.

“The bear you gave me—I hug it to sleep in bed every night.” He licked away the water droplets at the corner of his lips, pretending to say casually.

“Mm.”

Hearing this, she felt like laughing a bit, thinking Xie Ci was like a little kid.

It’s just that sometimes he liked to act like a rogue—his personality both violent and innocent, a bit contradictory.

Noticing he was standing too close, Xu You inconspicuously took a step to the side. “Isn’t it dirty? It’s all dusty.”

Xie Ci immediately said: “I washed it.”

The topic ended there. Silent again.

Holding it in for a long time.

As they were about to reach the stairwell, Xie Ci couldn’t help but get handsy again.

He forcibly pulled and dragged Xu You, hauling her to a corner with few people, where the lighting was somewhat dim.

Xu You’s school uniform was almost pulled off by him. She frowned, lowered her head to straighten her clothes, and said impatiently: “What are you being crazy about now?”

“No, I just want to ask you a question.”

Xie Ci’s tone lost its flippant quality. His eyes were dark, showing a hint of seriousness.

“When exactly will you become my girlfriend?”